HBO Hack Worse Than Thought

In this image released by HBO, Kit Harington portrays Jon Snow in a scene from "Game of Thrones." (Helen Sloan/HBO via AP)

(Newser)
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The HBO cyberattack appears to be worse than originally thought. A security company hired by the network tells Google that the hackers stole "thousands of ... internal company documents" belonging to HBO as well as "masses of copyrighted items including documents, images, videos and sound," Variety reports. The company, IP Echelon, is in the process of removing search results for the hacked files, and the revelation came as part of a take-down notice sent to Google ordering it to remove links to the leaked files. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter as many as 1.5 terabytes of data could have been exposed by the breach, which would make the hack worse than the 2014 Sony hack.

So far, episodes of Ballers, Insecure, Room 104, and Barry (the last of which has not aired yet) have been released by the hackers; they claim to also have at least one Game of Thrones script. The personal information of a senior HBO executive, including access to online banking and other online accounts, also appears to have been leaked. Other employee data and possibly even customer data is potentially vulnerable, leading Variety to also compare the attack to the Sony hack. Hackers have not asked for any ransom yet. HBO's CEO reassured employees Wednesday that it was unlikely the entire email system had been breached, the AP reports. (Read more HBO stories.)

"Hackers have not asked for any ransom yet." Why do reporters insist on doing this? Why not just report what HAPPENED?

Arthur Machado

Aug 4, 2017 7:06 AM CDT

"[T]he revelation came as part of a take-down notice sent to Google ordering it to remove links to the leaked files. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter as many as 1.5 terabytes of data could have been exposed by the breach, which would make the hack worse than the 2014 Sony hack." Yeah "take down notice" that's going to work.